


playing the lion

by apocalyptically



Category: Billions (TV), Daredevil (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-18
Updated: 2016-06-18
Packaged: 2018-07-15 20:23:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7237120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/apocalyptically/pseuds/apocalyptically
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Billions/Daredevil crossover: Bryan Connerty is James Wesley's estranged brother.</p>
            </blockquote>





	playing the lion

**Author's Note:**

> Me watching Billions: Excuse me, Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney, are you aware that your twin brother, a known associate of a criminal kingpin, as yet evades capture? [Based on this crossover idea nobody asked for,](http://apocalyptically.tumblr.com/post/140347373681/me-watching-billions-excuse-me-chief-assistant) here is a retelling of the scene when Axe offers Bryan a job in the season one finale (1x12 The Conversation).

Bryan wasn’t used to clandestine meetings with criminals in deserted pizzerias, but he found a strange comfort in thinking that James would be in his element. This sort of situation would be all in a day’s work for his brother. _If he’s still working. Still alive._ But that train of thought could carry him back to Hell’s Kitchen, and there were places where the current climate was not conducive to the health of a Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney.

He didn’t want to be worrying about his brother. It had been a while since there was any reason to — James had a way of weaselling out of harm’s way, despite choosing to stand next to lightning rods, and last time it had taken an alien invasion for Bryan to swallow his pride and call his twin. It was almost as if the Trial of the Century was a lodestone drawing buried emotions back to the surface of the city. Three years had passed since that phone call, but Bryan could still remember the feeling of annoyed relief when James responded to his voice message with a curt text, and the burst of nostalgia when the three of them had dinner together at their mother’s apartment. 

The Battle of New York had left scars both physical and psychic, but there were areas that did not heal over, where crime and corruption festered and bred vigilantism. Bryan pulled himself back into the present and focused on the man in front of him, a living embodiment of crime and corruption. “I can’t sit with you,” he informed him.

“Sure you can,” said Bobby Axelrod, dropping the shop keys and straddling the chair across from Bryan. “You want to.” He settled into his seat, relaxed and confident in the knowledge that he was in charge of the conversation. “Same way you want to stare at the lions at the zoo.”

Bryan was tired of bullshit games. After confronting Lonnie today, Chuck’s shenanigans, and now whatever angle Axe was playing, he was ready to go home. He wished fervently that he could take some of the nonna pie with him. It had taken enormous effort to not finish that slice in front of Bach, and to go for seconds. Would it be unethical to return another day as a paying customer? He could bring Kate, tell her he read about Caparello’s on a food blog...

Axe was not shutting up. “Bach walks around thinking he’s better and smarter than everyone. And you know why?”

“Cause he is,” Bryan said matter-of-factly. Where was this going? He needed to get away from the cooling pizza inches away from him. 

“That’s right. Only he says you’re just as smart. Even more focused, younger, hungrier.” Axe paused. “Dangerous.”

Nobody had ever described Bryan with that word. James was the dangerous one, manipulative and ruthless, and Bryan was the good twin. He took a breath. “I don’t know about any of that.” 

What he did know was that their mother had not heard from James for months. The bi-weekly phone calls — every other Thursday, timed precisely after the evening news aired because he knew she hated to miss the weather forecast, even though there were a hundred apps for that — had stopped shortly before his boss fell from grace. Bryan halfheartedly agreed with his mom that her prodigal son was in hiding or had fled the country. He could probably call in a few favours and try to pinpoint his brother’s whereabouts, but why pull on that thread? The last thing the office needed was another conflict of interest.

So no, he didn’t want to know about danger. The world had enough of that, and enough dangerous people avenging and punishing and other weird shit. What he knew was doing his job, which was governed by rules and research, protocol and paperwork. “I know hard work,” he told Axe.

“Yeah, you work hard. But it’s much more than that. You’re driven the way only someone brought up from _nothing_ , the way we were, can be.” Bryan wanted to scoff at the bald-faced attempt to draw a parallel, but it felt pointless to be offended. Axe went on. “Chuck Rhoades, for all his ambition, can never need it the way we do. But the guy’s had a safety net all his life. You and me? We never had a fucking net. That’s why it can never work, in the long term, you under him. Because he can’t understand what matters to you the way I can.”

Despite his discovery that Chuck was even more unscrupulous and hypocritical than he thought possible, Bryan hadn’t forgotten this was Bobby Axelrod. “I spend every minute of my day going after guys like you,” he retorted, leaning forward. He put as much conviction as he could muster into the words, even though he knew he was the one being a hypocrite. Lately, every minute of his day was spent trying to suppress queasy knots of nebulous dread in his chest and stomach. He had been searching his thoughts, waiting for that twin shadow sense to spark, to tell him his brother was alive and hadn’t been... _punished_ by Frank Castle. Jimmy didn’t deserve that, no matter who he worked for.

“That attitude, that focus, that ability — it’s not being fostered where you’re at, is it?” The lights of the restaurant sign in the window cast a glow over Axe’s face. “It’s being thwarted, in fact. And eventually, what you’re feeling will turn to disgust and self-hatred and, in the end, apathy. If it hasn’t already.”

Bryan kept his expression bored and scornful. Something was inherently wrong with the world when he and not his brother should be made to question his career choices. “That’s your diagnosis? What’s your cure?”

Axe rested an arm on the back of the chair next to him, a languid movement belied by the intensity of his gaze. “You know what it is. Come work for Bach’s firm, on my account. It’s a different kind of integrity where at least you know you’re never lying to yourself. I’m offering challenging work. You’ll be allowed to win — expected to, on your own terms. And of course, you’ll be rewarded. Seven figures, starting. And an ability to help your family, really help them. Your mom, she won’t have to work so hard, not at all, unless she wants to.” 

_Fuck._ Bryan tried not to let his startlement show. Of course the bastard had done his homework. It would be naive to think Axe didn’t know all about his family background, including James.

Axelrod concluded his pitch, taking a kindly supportive manner that did not quite mask the condescension of the words. “Time to take your seat at the grownups’ table.”

Bryan took another breath which sounded harsh in his ears. “That’s not who I am. I can’t picture it.” He was picturing other memories instead: James arranging place settings with careful concentration, James bringing home lavish gifts of wine bottles, James walking out the door while Bryan shouted after him. Did Axe know where his brother was and why he fell off the grid? A man like him could easily find out, Bryan realized, momentarily unsettled. His hands weren’t tied and he probably had more resources at his disposal than the FBI.

“Oh, I think you can picture it now.” Axe smiled conspiratorially. “The Bryan Connerty at the settlement conference, he would’ve stormed out of here the moment I walked in. But you stayed, and you listened.”

 _Because my brother and I are alike in more than appearance, more than I will admit to you or even to myself._ But maybe Axe had already figured that out and was banking on it. “And like you said, I stare at the lions at the zoo too,” Bryan countered. “Doesn’t mean I wanna be one.”

“Sure it does,” said Axe, showing his teeth. “Everyone wants to be a lion. Most people just never get the chance. I’m offering you one now.”

Was this how Wilson Fisk recruited his brother? Bryan doubted it, but he wondered what Axelrod would say if he asked about Fisk and the allegations that Axe Capital traded in Confederated Global Investments. If he agreed to work for Axe, he could investigate the rumours of those leaked documents that were never entered into evidence. He could find James ( _and protect him,_ his mind whispered). It might be enough to help end Chuck’s crusade. Of course, if he agreed to work for Axe, why would he even want to help Chuck anymore? He would have to sign a stack of NDAs that included his soul as part of the package deal.

The silence stretched until Bryan couldn’t sit there with Axe watching him expectantly anymore. He needed more time before making any life-changing decisions. “Thanks for the pizza,” he said, getting to his feet.

“I didn’t hear ‘no,’” said Axe.

What would James do? Bryan was pretty sure he understood his twin well enough to say that the whole “wanting to be a lion” sell would not work on him. James would have raised an eyebrow, curled his lip, responded with something pithy yet scathing, then called his boss to report all that he had seen and heard. But James could be dead for all he knew, and Bryan’s boss was not doing much to inspire loyalty of late. Bryan headed for the door.


End file.
